README
This file is outdated. Most recent version of README exist on SourceForge Please don't edit this page, as it is a copy of the file "README.txt", distributed with coLinux Cooperative Linux 0.6.4 README ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Instructions for running Cooperative Linux for Windows (see source for how to build and run coLinux for Linux) WARNING: Although Cooperative Linux may be actually useful on some setups (e.g, stable setups), it is still meant for testing purposes only. This means that running it may crash the host (Windows or Linux system). KNOWN ISSUES: Any known issues for an release can be found on the Wiki http://wiki.colinux.org PLEASE REPORT and read about problems on the colinux-devel at forge.netsourceforge.net mailing list or file an Bug report at http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/colinux NOTES ON UPGRADING: 1) If upgrading, please backup or copy your current default.colinux.XMfile before installing! 2) If you are upgrading from 0.6.1 to 0.6.4 the kernel version has changed (2.4.x in 0.6.1 and 2.6.x in 0.6.4), make sure you get module-init-tools if you want to work with modules in this new version. See other 2.6 upgrade resources for information about other changes. 3) Gentoo users need to be careful, Gentoo tends to use devfs when upgrading from 0.6.2 and so block device names change from cobdX to cobd/X and render the image unbootable. For more details and solutions see the 2.6 related information on the Wiki (http://wiki.colinux.org/) RUNNING: To run Cooperative Linux, please follow these instructions before trying to run anything. 1. Run the downloaded installer file to begin the installation. 2. Choose an installation directory. It is better to choose c:\coLinux because this way you don't need to edit the configuration XML since the pathnames of block devices files are currently aboslute. However, note that any directory should be acceptable. 3. Choose networking method(s) to install. Currently there are three choices: a. TAP driver - This method installs a virtual network adapter that can then be either shared or bridged with a physical network connection. Note that this requires Internet Connection Sharing or Bridging (Windows XP or higher) or a 3rd party Internet connection sharing application. See the Wiki at http://wiki.colinux.org/ for more information/help. The TAP method autmatically chooses the TAP first TAP adapter it finds, if this is not correct for you, you can specify the specific adapter by name (name="TAP1"). b. Bridging - This method allows the Cooperative Linux network interface to directly interoperate with one of your built in networking interfaces. You'll need to edit the configuration XML file to reflect that type="bridged" and the 'name' parameter needs to be set to a substring of the network connection name that you will be bridging with (e.g. name="Local Area Connection"). See the Wiki at http://wiki.colinux.org/ the page Network for more information/help. c. Slirp - The simplest way to use networks in coLinux. This runs as user application on the Windows host and needs no changes on the host networks. Slirp is a good choice for dialup networks and WLAN cards. Slirp use all times the current outgoing interface and forwards (NAT) networking from linux to the internet world. Slirp is a virtual Gateway for all outgoing TCP and UDP connections (no IMCP, no ping). Standard installation works as firewall to your linux. It means, you can not connect from windows side to your linux. To allow incomings from host system to linux, must additional configure 'redirections'. Slirp has a DHCP-Server for linux side. To use slirp, edit your XML file and set type="slirp". Inside linux use DHCP-Client to get your network configuration. Read more about slirp in the Wiki page Network at http://wiki.colinux.org/ 4. Choose whether to download a root file system from the Cooperative Linux sourceforge page. The installer will try to download directly in the next step but if you experience any issues you can visit the Sourceforge page directly at: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=98788&package_id=108058 NOTE ABOUT DISK SPACE: Each image extracts to over 1GB (or more), so make sure you have enough space there before you start downloading/extracting it. If you are manually downloading, put the extracted file in the installation directory. To unzip .bz2 files, you can use Winzip or 7-Zip (or the bzip utilities in Cygwin, etc). The image MUST be extracted from the .bz2 archive before use! 5. Edit the XML file to point to whatever root file system you downloaded. 6. The installation directory should include vmlinux, default.config.xml, the supplied linux.sys driver, executables and dlls, and probably the root filesystem image. Be sure to review the XML file for any additional configuration that may be needed. 7. Run coLinux. The current directory should be the installation directory, if not, then you man need to change paths (especially for vmlinux) in the XML config file.. a. Running as an service. colinux-daemon.exe -c config.xml --install-service "Cooperative Linux" Also, to remove the service: colinux-daemon.exe --remove-service "Cooopeative Linux". Then go to the Service Manager and start the "Cooperative Linux" service, OR net start "Cooperative Linux" Last, got to the installation directory and double-click on colinux-console-fltk.exe OR colinux-console-nt.exe b. As an regular application. colinux-daemon.exe -c config.xml See colinux-daemon --help for details about possible command-line arguments. The console window opens and you would see a Linux machine booting in that window. Post Installation ----------------- You may wish to set up some post installation parameters, including increasing the amount of memory allocated to Cooperative Linux, or adding a swap partition. See the Wiki at http://wiki.colinux.org/ for additional help on these tasks. Command Line Parameters ------------------------ The following command line paramaters may be useful in operating Cooperative Linux. -a # Allows you to specify the instance of Coooperative Linux that you will be connecting to. -c filename.XML Allows you to choose a specific XML configuration file to use. -t consoletype Allows you to specify either the FLTK (default) or NT (-t nt) console to use on startup. --install-service servicename Allows you to install Cooperative Linux as a service. Also use the -c parameter to specify your configuration file when doing this. is whatever you want it to be called. --remove-service servicename Allows you to remove the Cooperative Linux service. --install-drvier This command to install the driver portion of Cooperative Linux. BIG NOTE: This already happens during the installation of coLinux, on most cases you don't need to run it at all. --remove-driver This command will remove the driver portion of Cooperative Linux. BIG NOTE: This already happens during the uninstall of coLinux, on most cases you don't need to run it at all. OR If the first command-line argument on the command line is kernel= you will be able to give all the configuration on the command-line, in this "mode" the command-line arguments are: kernel= This specifies the path to the vmlinux file, typically kernel=vmlinux works. initrd= This specifies the path to the initrd file, typeically initrd=initrd.gz mem= This specifies the memory size, assumes MB is the the unit type, so 64 is same as 64MB. Default if you leave this parameter out is 1/4 of your RAM if your RAM is >= 128, otherwise it's 16. Default value is generally ok. cobdX= Use any number of these to specify the block device's image files alias= | :cobdX Use any number of these to specify an alias (hda1, etc) for an block device's image file. can be to an partition using standard \Device\HarddiskX\PartitionY format. cofsX= Use any number of these to specify a Cooperative Host filesystem device (mount Host directory to coLinux local mount point). There are some limitations in it's use currently (namely non-ASCII files). ethX=tap | pcap-bridge,,, Use any number of these to specify network interfaces, and are optional. is optional only for pcap-bridge, default is 'promisc'. Some cases works only with 'nopromisc'. OR ethX=slirp,, Use any number of these to specify network interfaces, and are options. take the form tcp|upd:host_port:linux_port, multiple redirections are seperated by /, ie tcp:2222:22/tcp:8080:80 root= This is the device (as coLinux gues sees it) to the root device. ANY additional parameters are passed to the coLinux kernel as is (unmodified). Common Problems --------------- "Unable to mount root fs" Generally this means that the root filesystem image is missing, was specified incorrectly, or not uncompressed. Additional problems not know at time of release are typically documented on the Wiki (http://wiki.colinux.org/), look there for known problems. If your problem isn't listed, report on the colinux-devel at sourceforge.net mailing list or file an Bug report at http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/colinux Developing, Helping out the Project ----------------------------------- Check out the source code, and or the Home page (http://www.colinux.org) for more on developing coLinux and/or helping the project out. Also, subscribing to the Mailing List is helpful. Getting Help ------------ The following resources are available if you need help getting going, or find bugs, etc. IRC The official IRC location is at server irc.oftc.net, channel #colinux. WEB The official website, containing downloads, documentation, FAQ, WIKI, etc., is at http://www.colinux.org Project Web-site Source Forge Project website is at http://www.sourceforge.net/project/colinux WIKI The community has contributed wonderful and helpful information on numerous topics, which is available at http://wiki.colinux.org/ (You can contribute here too!) Mailing Lists Visit the colinux.org website and choose from the available mailing lists (user and devel) to join, view archives, etc. - Dan Aloni da-x at gmx.net Richard Goodwin (readme portions) colinux at newdiversions.com George P Boutwell (readme updates, fixes, etc) george.boutwell at gmail.com